Chapter 76 - 2.37

The Goddess immediately broke into a fit of laughter after seeing Xu Jiaqi's crafty eyes channeling her inner desire to leech off the Goddess.

<Truly a brave soul. I'm confused on whether you should be called a good or bad person. And, oh, you will be able to do it. After all, as part of the reward, I will be lending you bits of my power. I don't have much left, but it's sure to balance out your shaky foundation. This way, your powers would also skyrocket since you will hold temporary divinity.>

Xu Jiaqi's smile disappeared. This was an offer that was too good for her. She couldn't promise the Goddess anything, but she was readily handing out powers like this. It was suspicious.

"..Are you sure that you are giving that sort of blessing to someone like me? Are you not afraid that I will just run away with your power in tow and burn the whole world up?" Xu Jiaqi asked, a dark glint hovering over her eyes.

<I couldn't care less. I'm taking chances here. High risk, high return, right? I originally governed over this world because the job was forced upon me anyway. I was the lowest out of my family tree in terms of power, so I got sent into this kind of world. If I got the lucky end of the stick, you wouldn't have seen me here. I'm living such a sad fate, all I do nowadays is visit Ezra since I know that the world will plunge to its death.>

"Will you not get the brunt of it if the world collapses? It's the world you are supposed to guard, right?"

<Well, it's hard to explain, but divinity can't be destroyed. So in theory, no matter how much us siblings hate each other, we wouldn't be able to destroy the very essence of our being. We would be able to trap it.. lock the soul down, but our life can't be destroyed. It should work the same way throughout all the realms. Perhaps some exceptions are there, but generally, divinity is something that will always exist. It could technically be passed down, but the original giver.. Upon losing one's divinity completely, their body would..>

The Goddess snapped her fingers, creating a crisp sound. <Perish. They will fall to void, and will not be able to reincarnate or restart their lives.>

"..Last question. Why have you not imparted this kind of gift to others? Ezra is right here. Shouldn't you have given him the mission from long ago?"

<Ezra does not have the ability to bear my divinity. To be able to merge divinity with a being.. You need to possess a soul that is made to handle it. For this same reason, a lot of beings who dreams about stealing a deity's divinity fails and perishes terribly. However, someone like you, who is a transmigrator, naturally has a soul that has been primed by your companion. Only by doing that will you be able to withstand traversing over the worlds. So, that means that your soul is already strengthened. Strong enough to take in my power.>

Xu Jiaqi felt the urge to turn backwards and leave upon hearing the Goddess say that. As if there was something inside of her who was fighting the idea to bear divinity or even get close with it at all. 

However, a part of her was also terribly curious, wanting to research about this matter and take it on as a challenge.

"..Okay. I get it. But in order for the plans to begin, I will need you to convince the guy in front of me to run for the Cardinal position. I will serve the title up to him on a silver platter, he will just need to sit down and enjoy it all as I clean the world up." Xu Jiaqi's sparkling eyes landed back on Ezra, who shirked backwards because he was discomforted.

<That will be easy. Also, I will be giving you some boosts. In the first Saintess trial, I will directly bless you. Showing you favor in front of everybody, I don't believe that the corruption happening in Palla would dare bypass my will. Even more so since some civilians are going to be present and witness the glory.>

The Goddess openly said that she was going to directly manipulate the results by abusing her power, but Xu Jiaqi made no comments and took it as her luck.

"I understand. I also planned to use the public's eye to elevate my backing, so please do that. As for Ezra.. could you come and say hello to me after the Goddess' boost comes down? It will make sense since you are devoted to the Goddess.. and it would be taken up as your way of being curious about another who was directly 'blessed'."

Ezra simply nodded. He was listening to the conversation and could faintly decipher their meanings, although some of them were completely unintelligible and didn't make sense to him.

<Is it settled? Be warned, the moment you take on the divinity, it might change your soul. In the future, if you encounter a deity who has a much stronger divinity than what you think your soul could handle, then don't take it. You will be poisoning yourself. Since I am just giving a small dose, and I have been weakened, it will be alright.> The Goddess alerted while she was at it.

Xu Jiaqi pursed her lips as she began to second guess the decision.

'System. Is it really fine if I take the divinity?' Xu Jiaqi had a turbulence inside her heart that made her worry.

[It should be fine, Host. Is there something you think is off about this?] The System checked the stability levels before responding. Her soul was indeed very strong even before the System strengthened it, so taking on Eula's powers shouldn't be a great deal, only some pain and discomfort will follow.

'..I don't know. I just feel uncomfortable. Maybe it's just my feeling..' Xu Jiaqi sighed internally before resolutely facing the Goddess.

"Goddess Eula, please entrust me with your power.." Xu Jiaqi spoke.